Everything Else Disappears
by Nefret429
Summary: Major spoilers for Girl with the Curl Jack works up the courage to ask Angela out... rated T just because of a couple of words that kids shouldn't say. Lyrics by Sister Hazel.


"Everything Else Disappears"

Disclaimer: No, as a poor, dependent college student, I don't own much of anything, least of all these characters or the plot of the episode (that belongs to the producers or the brilliant _Bones_ writers, depending on how you look at it).

Also, the title and lyrics came from Sister Hazel's "Everything Else Disappears"… I have nowhere near the poetic talent to write such music, so please don't sue me over it! It was just so perfectly HA… (Consider this an advertisement: if you like semi-southern rock/folk/pop, these guys are awesome!)

Enjoy!

He was nervous. Jack Hodgins, who could handle maggots, slime and a mountain of garbage without batting an eye, who's job was to examine the refuse left behind by rotting corpses, was about to be sick. All this over a girl.

_Remember to breathe  
Remember to hold your head high  
Remember to smile some  
And just listen a while_

To be fair, it wasn't just any girl. It was the girl of his dreams, the girl he'd been waiting a year for, the girl he very well might have gone and fallen in love with. And it was time to ask her out on a date. Of course he was nervous. But he walked through the lab with purpose, holding his tray of soggy paper, a peace offering, an entrance for her to invite him to stay; it was their job, after all. He picked through the garbage, she put it back together.

_You've practiced enough yeah  
That's what I told myself  
So I nervously asked you your name  
And that's when the world seemed to stop_

It took him nearly ten minutes to find an opening, to work up to it. He tried to ignore her discouraging, her assurances that she could handle the identification, her suggestions that he should get back to work. It came blurting out, faster than he had intended, but he hoped to God he sounded logical. He laid it out as it was in his head; told her about the tension they both knew had been brewing between them, that he felt they owed it to themselves to see where it went. One date. That was all he was asking of her.

She refused; he persisted. Again, a 'no', again he wouldn't take it. Until finally, the look on he face told him to back off.

_Oh, well_, he told himself, _you gave it a shot_. It's not like he had anything to lose. Other than his dignity, and his heart, but hey, there were worse things.

He went back to work. And when she came back, in a suddenly flirty mood and with a changed mind, she made his day. No, his year. Maybe his entire life.

_And I died when you looked up like that  
Took my breath away  
Knocked me flat on my back  
I knew right then and there  
In that first second stare  
It would be a while_

The date had gone well, in his opinion. Perfect, he might even dare to say. They'd had a great time, they'd really talked, really connected he was walking on air all day.

He couldn't wait for the next one. Already, ideas were swirling around, fighting one another for prominence. What could top the perfect date?

_Everything falls out of focus  
You walk through the door  
And one thing that's clear to me  
Helplessly hopeless  
I'm all right with that  
In a room full of people  
Everything else disappears_

He tried not to think about the fact that he hadn't seen her but for a moment or two since that night. _We've both been busy with the case_, he reasoned, _it doesn't mean anything…_

But it seemed it did after all.

The date was perfect. And that meant that everything was going to fall apart. He didn't understand. Screw everyone else! Couldn't she just be selfish for once? But she wouldn't argue.

"Friends."

It hurt like hell, going from the highest high to the lowest low. It didn't mean she didn't care, he tried to tell himself. It just meant that he had no chance with the woman he loved unless he quit the best job he'd ever had.

_Everything falls out of focus  
You walk through the door  
And one thing that's clear to me  
Helplessly hopeless  
I'm all right with that  
In a room full of people  
Everything else disappears_

But it didn't matter. She would always be the most beautiful thing in the room.

_Everything else disappears_

_Everything else…_


End file.
